Wayne Bernier’s three-day odyssey ended at Happy Corral, where he officiated Miami’s win over Loop in a six-man high school football game played before 230 fans.

About 40 hours earlier, the Amarillo businessman worked as an NFL replacement official before 69,144 people at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, where the Eagles bested the New York Jets in a preseason contest. In between, on Friday night, Bernier landed in Bushland, where he worked the sidelines in the Falcons’ romp over Borger.

“I was glad all the flight connections worked out so I could get back,” said Bernier, who caught a red-eye flight home from Philadelphia following the Eagles game.

As a replacement official for the world’s premiere professional sports league, Bernier is part of an exclusive and maligned group. The league locked out NFL officials in early June after contract negotiations with the officials union stalled.

Replacement refs have drawn withering criticism for their work in exhibition games. But they’re expected to take the field to open the regular season, which starts Sunday. Talks between the league and the officials union went nowhere Saturday. The two sides are at odds mostly over pay and retirement.

The replacements include Amarillo’s Richard Simmons and Lubbock’s Oscar Shorten. Coaches largely have been supportive, but fans and commentators have pilloried the sub refs, many of whom are making the transition from working small-college games to officiating before tens of thousands of fans in the NFL.

Bernier, 42, is part of an even more exclusive group, a ref who went from the rough-and-tumble City of Brotherly Love to Happy, “The Town without a Frown,” from following the game’s top athletes to six-man ball. The difference is as much beyond the white lines as between them, he said.

“You have seen it on TV and see this big field,” Bernier said. “But you walk in and it’s still a 100-yard field just like out at Dick Bivins Stadium. There are more people. That’s all.”

Bernier got the call from the NFL in June. That launched a nearly two-month process during which Bernier turned in an application, completed questionnaires and passed a background check and physical assessment tests and attended lengthy classroom training in Dallas, which included studying game film.

He kept making the cuts and eventually was assigned to training sessions at the San Francisco 49ers training camp.

“Humbling is what I’d first say I experienced because you are in awe, but you are there to do a job,” Bernier said. “You don’t get star struck. I had a lot to learn. I had to get acclimated to the speed. That’s the difference between any level and the NFL, the speed and size. But one thing is easier. They are so skilled and know how to catch a football. Now, the harder part is they have the chance to learn more technique, and they know how to hold better.”

Bernier worked his first preseason game in the massive Georgia Dome, where Atlanta hosted Baltimore.

Among his many duties as a head linesman are working with the chain gang and watching the line of scrimmage. He starts on the visitors sideline and after halftime moves to the home sideline.

Along the way, Bernier encounters coaches in all states of moods.

“You learn they all are human beings,” Bernier said. “They are in this spotlight all the time, but they are just human. And they are class acts, like Andy Reid (of Philadelphia). We all know he just lost his son, and there is emotion there. And then most of the players have been cordial. You hear every once in a while a ‘Oh, that’s why you are here’ comment. But most of them slap you on the butt and say, ‘Good job.’”

On Aug. 19, while working a game in Pittsburgh, Bernier looked up former Palo Duro star Ziggy Hood, a starting defensive lineman for the Steelers.

“I told him Coach (Steve) Parr said hi,” Bernier said, “and he turned and looked at me. He remembered me and said, ‘Welcome to the NFL.’”

Seattle coach Pete Carroll made Bernier’s day, telling him at halftime of an Aug. 24 game, “‘Hey, Wayne. Best job I’ve seen all year and last year. I saw no difference.’ That makes you feel like you are doing things right.”

Bernier has been officiating for 19 years, working high school, college and professional indoor football games during that span. His career started for a reason familiar enough to many of the fans who watch him work.

“I was a college student at Texas Tech, and I needed beer money,” he said. “So I started doing intramural football for $12 a game.”

Bernier found a niche and was invited to officiate the college flag football intramural championships in New Orleans.

He’s come a long way since then. NFL replacements are paid $3,500 a game for head referees and $3,000 for the other six officials, according to ESPN.

Still, despite that kind of pay, he wasn’t about to miss his officiating assignments back home.

“It’s all about those kids out there,” Bernier said pointing toward the Loop and Miami players after working their six-man game. “That’s why I am here. They need officials. I’m trying to protect them. And then I’m on a crew. I made a commitment to these guys. They are my friends. My boys. I wanted to get back here from Philly because this was a special weekend for me. This is where I got started on a six-man field with other new officials. And I didn’t do this on purpose. I had this game scheduled way before the NFL.”

Miami fifth-year coach Jack Graves was impressed.

“So he’s a replacement? If I’d known that, I would’ve got his autograph,” Graves said. “That’s pretty cool. Wayne’s a good guy. Wayne did a good job. He always does. I enjoy having him on the sideline. As a coach, you can agree to disagree.”

Bernier is unfazed by the bright lights of the NFL, said his high school crew chief, Barry Trickey, who worked with Bernier over the weekend at Bushland and Happy.

“Wayne hasn’t changed at all,” Trickey said. “He really is playing it low key. When I saw him on an NFL field for the first time it was like a dad (moment) for me. I was proud of him. That’s quite an accomplishment.”

Officials are famous for their thick skins, but Bernier is not blind to the criticism of replacement officials questioning everything from their ability to simply why would they cross the labor line. He also feels the kind of pressure the league places on its officials. He is sent an email after each game with a comment on how he performed on every play. A grade also is issued to him.

“I can tell you this,” Bernier said. “The replacements are working their tails off. They know the game. And I didn’t cross a line. I understand what a scab is. But I wasn’t a regular who crossed a line to keep going. Look at it like this. (New Orleans quarterback) Drew Brees held out. His contract went to the eleventh hour. I’m that backup quarterback that says, ‘I’m going to take these snaps and prepare myself. But when Drew Brees comes back, he’s the guy. He’s the starter.’

“I know these regular officials, they are the guys. I am going to do the best I can for the game of football so we can watch it on Sunday.”

But Bernier also recognizes the opportunity and what his call-up to the NFL means.

“For me, dreams do come true,” he said. “Don’t ever think a door is a shut. And from one official to another, don’t ever assume nobody is watching.”

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